Gaito v. Prasse
| Citation | 312 F.2d 169 |
| Decision Date | 18 January 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 14084.,14084. |
| Parties | Joseph GAITO, Appellant, v. Arthur T. PRASSE, Commissioner of Correction, A. T. Rundle, Acting Superintendent, William Berg, Notary, et al. Eastern Correctional Institution Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit) |
Joseph Gaito, pro se.
Edward C. Boyle, Dist. Atty., Pittsburgh, Pa. (William Claney Smith, Asst. Dist. Atty., Pittsburgh, Pa., on the brief), for appellees.
Before GANEY and SMITH, Circuit Judges, and AUGELLI, District Judge.
There is quite a long and involved history in connection with the various applications of Joseph Gaito for relief from a rather long term of imprisonment. The appellant, Joseph Gaito, and his brother, Frank, were indicted in 1959 on a charge of burglary. Joseph was also indicted in the same year on a charge of assault with intent to kill. Joseph and Frank were additionally indicted on a charge of violation of the Uniform Fire Arms Act, 18 P.S. § 4628. They were found guilty on all indictments. On the burglary charge, Joseph was sentenced to pay a fine of $500 and serve a term of imprisonment of not less than ten years nor more than twenty. On the indictment charging the appellant with assault with intent to kill, he was sentenced to not less than three and a half years nor more than seven years imprisonment. On the indictments charging violation of the Uniform Fire Arms Act the sentence was suspended upon payment of costs. Motions for new trial were filed and argued before a court en banc and denied. Appeals were taken to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania which affirmed the convictions and sentence. A petition for reargument filed by the appellant was denied. His appeal, taken to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was also denied, as was a petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The appellant then filed a suit for an injunction in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against the Superintendent of the State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, praying that the Court enjoin the defendant from interfering with what he maintains are his civil rights, predicating his complaint on the Civil Rights Act, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1342, and also on 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983.
A motion to dismiss was filed by the defendant, alleging that the complaint failed to state a cause of action upon which relief could be granted and for the further reason that it failed to show the exhaustion of administrative remedies provided for by the laws of Pennsylvania. In his complaint, appellant alleged that he did not have proper access to certain law books, pamphlets and materials with which he could prepare his appeal to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. However, upon hearing, the Court found that there were rules and regulations adopted by the Commissioner of Correction of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and that these regulations permitted the appellant to have access to law books and legal material, but stated that prisoners could not retain the materials for their own use, though they might use them in their cells when necessary for the prosecution of their own case, and they could not be disseminated to other inmates. Further, that this was merely an administrative procedure and that if the appellant did not secure the proper redress, the procedure was to appeal to the Warden of the Institution, next, present the matter to the attention of the Diagnostic Clinic, located in the institution where the prisoner was serving his sentence, then to the Commissioner of Correction and, finally, to the Attorney General of the Commonwealth. Not having exhausted this administrative procedure, the Court denied him relief. No appeal was taken from the order denying this petition for injunction.
In December of 1961, after appellant had been...
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Gaito v. Strauss, Civ. A. No. 65-1018.
...immunity concept applied herein. Plaintiff's views concerning interference with his mail have heretofore been expressed. Gaito v. Prasse, 312 F.2d 169 (3d Cir. 1963), cert. denied 374 U.S. 816, 83 S.Ct. 1711, 10 L.Ed.2d 1039. His present complaint states no justiciable claim as to the frivo......
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Roberts v. Pepersack
...of the United States." Accord, Williams v. Wilkins, 315 F.2d 396 (2d Cir. 1963), cert. denied 375 U.S. 852, 84 S.Ct. 112; Gaito v. Prasse, 312 F.2d 169 (3d Cir. 1963), cert. denied 374 U.S. 816, 83 S.Ct. 1711; United States ex rel. Wakeley v. Pennsylvania, 247 F.Supp. 7 (E.D.Pa.1965); Edmun......
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United States v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Misc. No. 3029.
...been concluded in this District and Circuit that these regulations constitute proper administrative remedies. See Gaito v. Prasse, 312 F.2d 169, 171 (3rd Cir. 1963); United States ex rel. Mayberry v. Prasse, 225 F.Supp. 752, 754 3 Aircraft & Diesel Equipment Corp. v. Hirsch, 331 U.S. 752, 6......
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Marcedes v. Barrett, 18492.
...the administrative remedies available in the Pennsylvania correctional system insofar as this claim is concerned. See Gaito v. Prasse, 312 F.2d 169, 171-173 (3d Cir.1963); United States exrel. Wakeley v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 247 F.Supp. 7, 9 note 2 (E.D.Pa. 1965). Furthermore, in t......